Fnatic Almost Makes The Biggest Roster Change By Dropping Golden

Posted 22nd March 2018 By: Kyle-Tipify Staff

Esports News – After a two-year drought, fnatic won the $1 million CS:GO major, IEM Katowice after beating FaZe clan in the grand finals of the tournament. However, just less than a month after the team’s win, the organization was set to replace their current in-game leader, Maikil “Golden” Selim, with former Ninjas in Pyjamas member, Richard “Xizt” Landström. The announcement was a surprise as Golden led the CS:GO team to win IEM Katowice with his strategies and performance.

Golden earned his position in fnatic through the organization’s academy team after olofmeister signed with FaZe. Ever since Golden took on the role of in-game leader for fnatic, the team has climbed back up the world ranking, their current at fifth, which is their best in two years.

But WESG Happened

The roster change was revealed before the $1.5 million tournament in China, WESG, was set to begin. Golden, who might’ve been under pressure to lose his spot in the team, played one of the best CS:GO games of his career. Fnatic went on to win the grand finals of the tournament, over Space Soldiers, with a comeback victory. It’s worth noting that fnatic won two consecutive championships in WESG and IEM Katowice totaling over $1 million in cash prizes in a span of two weeks.

The reason for the roster change, had it happened, was due to a concern outside of the game. But ever since the team earned the two titles, everything looked back into form and fixed their issues in the organization. Days after the win in WESG, Golden sent out a short tweet saying, “I stay”, which officially meant that he would stick with fnatic.

Richard “Xizt” Landström was benched from NiP after being replaced by Dennis Edman on the roster. Xist was already a former member of fnatic for over two years before the end of Counter-Strike 1.6, and it may have been the reason he was slated to replace Golden.

Finally, fnatic’s performance peaked once again. Although, this will be tested once the big international event at DreamHack Master Marseille begins on April 18 to 22.